SANTA CRUZ -- A woman who consumed death cap mushrooms she picked near UC Santa Cruz is being treated at Dominican Hospital in the first U.S. clinical trial of European antidote Legalon SIL for deadly amatoxin poisoning.

She is the third patient in the trial treated in Santa Cruz since July 2011, according to Dr. Todd Mitchell, principal investigator and a physician at Dominican Hospital.

He expects she will recover.

The other two patients "both made complete recovery," he said.

The woman ate about six mushrooms Friday night broiling them with rice and garlic, Mitchell said.

He said the woman came into Dominican Hospital Saturday night, and was referred for treatment, then returned Sunday.

"I happened to be in the ER when she was there," he said, explaining his son required treatment after dislocating his pinky finger during a volleyball practice.

Mitchell said he expects to present data this year to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which authorized the clinical trial with Dr. Alan Buchwald, a Dominican toxicologist, as co-investigator.

"We have now treated over 60 patients across North America for amatoxin mushroom poisoning with Legalon SIL under the auspices of our clinical trial since 2007," Mitchell said.

Legalon SIL, produced by Rottapharm/Madaus, is a preparation of milk thistle given intravenously and licensed for use in a dozen European countries.

Mitchell is "optimistic" about securing FDA approval, which would allow the drug to be marketed and sold in the U.S.

He said "100 percent of the patients that did not go into renal failure before starting treatment had full and complete recovery."

Those who go into renal failure first "don't respond to the drug at all," he said. "The drug requires a functioning kidney to be effective."

One of the symptoms of mushroom poisoning is vomiting, and Mitchell said patients "need aggressive intravenous hydration."

He said 30 of the patients treated were on the East Coast, with some were treated in Cleveland and others in Washington.

Death cap mushrooms, known as amanita phalloides, are often mistaken for edible varieties.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reported one mushroom hunter snapped a photo of the find so doctors were able to confirm that they were amanita.

Georgetown University doctors presented their findings at an international meeting this year.

Acute hepatitis can follow, she added, noting early recognition of mushroom ingestion as a cause of acute hepatitis is paramount to initiate treatment that could prevent the progression to acute liver failure, liver transplant or death.

In December, Dr. Ron Chapman, director of the California Department of Public Health, issued a warning urging people not to eat wild mushrooms.

Four Californians have died including three in November after consuming poisonous wild mushrooms. In addition, 18 suffered a "major health outcome," such as liver failure leading to a coma or liver transplant or kidney failure requiring dialysis, according to the California Poison Control System.

Mitchell arranged for the first treatment of American patients with Legalon SIL six years ago when a family of six who ate tacos containing death cap mushrooms picked at Wilder Ranch State Park in Santa Cruz. Five of the six survived after Mitchell obtained the drug from Germany along with an emergency FDA waiver for the treatment.

AT A GLANCEWHAT: Death cap mushroom, known as amanita phalloides, often mistaken for edible varietiesWHEN: Usually after the first rain, often between Thanksgiving and New Year'sWHERE: Wooded areasINFORMATION: California Poison Control Center, 1-800-222-1222. Bay Area Mycological Society, www.bayareamushrooms.org. Physicians who want information can call toll free 866-520-4412 or go to http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00915681